Recent Posts
Thaddeus Lowe: Pancho Barnes’ Famous Grandfather
Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe (August 20, 1832 – January 16, 1913), also known as Professor TSC Lowe, was a scientist, dreamer, visionary, brilliant inventor and consummate showman. He also was a balloonist, soaring above the clouds in his hydrogen-gas-filled silk balloon suspended in a wicker basket. In 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War he figured that aerial reconnaissance via… [Read More]
Pancho's Animals, Part I – Chito
Pancho Barnes had a big heart, and when it came to animals, they were treated like a member of the family. She grew up with horses and dogs and hogs and, well, if she could find it, she’d befriend it. She LOVED animals. Pancho was quite an accomplished horse rider in her childhood days, as well as raising thoroughbreds at… [Read More]
Pancho Barnes – Barnstormer, Stunt Pilot, Test Pilot
It was the Roaring 20’s, the early days of aviation, and most folks in America didn’t know that women were up in the air flying. Pancho Barnes took the aviation industry by storm, or shall we say, by ‘barnstorm,’ becoming one of the first women ‘barnstormers’ in Pancho Barnes Mystery Circus of the Air. Barnstorming troops performed death-defying feats and… [Read More]
Happy Bottom Riding Club had 9000 members!
Pancho Barnes was not only a world-class aviatrix, she was a darned-good business woman. After creating the Rancho Oro Verde out of a run-down alfalfa farm in Muroc (now Edwards Air Force Base in Cailfornia) in 1935, Pancho added a drive-in, fly-in hotel, an FAA-regulation airfield, a dance hall, and a very popular pool to create the world-famous Happy Bottom… [Read More]
Who is Pancho Barnes…
WELCOME to the “Official” blog of Pancho Barnes and the Estate of Pancho Barnes. Pancho Barnes (1901 – 1975) is considered by many to be one of the 20th century’s greatest American characters. During her lifetime, Pancho (born Florence Leontine Lowe) gained respect for her intelligence, individuality, outsized personality, creativity, entrepreneurship, humor, generosity and integrity. A legend in the aviation… [Read More]